"The motto In God We Trust was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the American Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout Christians throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize God on United States coins. From Treasury Department records, it appears that the first such appeal came in a letter dated November 13, 1861. It was written to Secretary Chase by Rev. M. R. Watkinson, Minister of the Gospel from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, and read:
...This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my heart I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

As a result, Secretary Chase instructed James Pollock, Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, to prepare a motto, in a letter dated November 20, 1861:
Dear Sir: No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.
You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition

Presidents/Leaders

Is there such thing as a "perfect" President? When I was reading 1 Sammuel 12....

Samuel said to all Israel, I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you.
Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day.
Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these, I will make it right.ï¿½
You have not cheated or oppressed us,ï¿½ they replied. ï¿½You have not taken anything from anyone's hand.ï¿½
Samuel said to them, ï¿½The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.ï¿½
ï¿½He is witness,ï¿½ they said.
Then Samuel said to the people, ï¿½It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your forefathers up out of Egypt.
Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers.
"After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your forefathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
"But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them.
They cried out to the Lord and said, ï¿½We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.ï¿½"-
1 Sammuel 12

about how the Israelites were asking God for a "king"-just like other nations (e.g. we always want the same thing our neighbors have), which we don't look at the future consequences; I notice that we as "human beings" are never contented. We want what others have! As you read more of the story after 1 Sammuel 12, one finds out the corruption of "kings"-just like Presidents!

"Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people"-Abraham Lincoln

"(CNN) – Jimmy Carter, peanut farmer turned president turned globe-trotting humanitarian, now has another line to add to his business card: Bible commentator. Last week Carter published a Lessons from Life Study Bible, with the subtitle Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter.
With many Democrats embracing the language of faith in recent years in an attempt to win back so-called values voters from the Republican column, Carter's intense faith life is a good reminder that hardly all Democrats are new to the pew.
Since he returned to Plains, Georgia, from Washington after losing his re-election bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980, Carter has taught Sunday school at the local Maranatha Baptist Church, “about 685 times so far,” he says.
His notes in the new study Bible pull from years of Sunday school lessons. “Like the disciples, we should not be proud, seek an ascendant position or argue about who’s the greatest among us,” he notes in reflecting on a passage from the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus' followers are debating who among them is the greatest.
In a phone interview from his home in Plains, he said politics is one area in need of redemption, bemoaning the influx of vitriol and money into politics.
“I always referred to incumbent President Gerald Ford as ‘my distinguished opponent’ and that’s the way he referred to me. When I later ran against Gov. [Ronald] Reagan, it was the same thing, ‘my distinguished opponent,’” Carter said of his runs for president.
CNN's Belief Blog – all the faith angles to the day's top stories
Carter’s 1976 bid for the White House was cast in the shadow of President Nixon’s resignation following the Watergate scandal. Carter was a seemingly squeaky clean and relatively unknown one-term governor, a Baptist churchgoer who became a darling of evangelical Christian voters.
On the campaign trail, Carter proudly advertised that he had been “born again.” Historian Randall Balmer dubbed him the “Redeemer President” in his book "God in the White House," largely crediting Carter with bringing the vocabulary of evangelicalism into national politics.
President Carter works in the Oval Office in February 1977.
But any notion Carter would govern as he taught Sunday school was dispelled when he took office. "I was taught to believe in the complete separation of church and state,” he said.
Carter says he's a disciple of President Jefferson, who famously wrote in a letter that the First Amendment established "a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Carter’s embrace of that idea did not always go over well at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
“I got into some trouble for that because, for instance, I didn’t want Billy Graham, who was my friend, to come and have worship services inside the White House, as had been done in previous presidencies both Democrat and Republican,” he said.
Graham, Carter said, was not happy but later came to understand it.
Carter's presidential daily diaries, compiled by the White House staff to record the movement, conversations and meetings of the president, show Graham and Carter communicated often via telephone and over meals.
President Carter and President Bush pray with the Rev. Billy Graham in 2007.
Indeed, Carter said it was impossible to separate his Christian faith from his daily life in the White House.
Long before he worked out of the Oval Office, he and his wife Rosalynn developed the habit of reading a passage of scripture aloud every night: “She would take a turn one night and I would take the next.”
It was a practice they kept up in the White House and continue to this day, reading through the Bible and then starting again at the beginning. Carter said he and Rosalynn have recently been reading a Spanish translation of the Bible to keep up their language skills.
“I tried to put into my services as president the teachings of Christ,” he said. To Carter that meant policies that pushed for peace around the globe and cared for the needy.
“I was very careful to keep religious practice out of my decisions as president except for moral values,” he said.
In the White House, Carter still found time to quietly teach Sunday school on 14 occasions. He attended services at various churches, including worshipping at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
The Carter presidential diaries note Carter and his wife attending services in Washington at First Baptist Church. "The President and the First Lady attended the adult Sunday School class," reads an entry from December 18, 1977. "The class was conducted by the President."
A similar entry is written for March 4, 1979.
“I’ve taught Sunday school for almost my entire life, beginning when I was a Midshipman in the Navy at 18 years old,” Carter said.
The majority of those lessons were given at Maranatha Baptist Church, which now has around 30 members. When Carter teaches Sunday school there today, attendance can grow to 800 – passing the population total for the tiny town of Plains, home to 650 residents.
Carter walks through his family peanut farm in an undated campaign photo.
Busloads of tourists regularly pull into the parking lot for a chance to hear the former leader of the free world teach from Scripture. At times, visitors spill into an overflow room with a television monitor, subject to security sweeps by the Secret Service, Carter said.
The church’s answering machine recording begins with the times Carter will be teaching and suggests visitors arrive early, noting the doors open at 8:30 a.m. and that there are no reservations.
Carter’s presence on Sundays is a one-man economic engine for the tiny town. “It really is a huge impact,” said Ruth Sanders, director of the Plains Better Homes Committee, a local tourism office.
She said the seven-room Plains Historic Inn is booked months in advance and that its country diner is jammed. She also notes that Sunday school is the only time people are guaranteed a photo with the former president, who with his wife poses for a picture with everyone who asks after services.
“One of the main things I try to do is to connect the very ancient Scriptures with modern day life," he said. "Either experiences I’ve had or that I believe are things that are interesting to people who come to hear me teach.”
Christian publishing house Zondervan compiled the study Bible, which combines Carter’s teachings and notes with the New International Bible Study Bible.
The NIV translation is one of the best selling English translations of the Bible of all time. Verne Kenney, executive vice president for Zondervan, which published the Carter Bible, expects it to sell 250,000 copies over several years.
“We believe we can find some people we haven’t engaged with the product, with who has written the notes,” Kenney said.
Carter brings some serious credentials to those notes. He served just one term as Georgia governor and one term as president, but is working on his seventh decade as a Sunday school teacher."
-35th President: 1961-1963

"...Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety. ...Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President. ...His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty. ... Responding to ever more urgent demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation. His vision of America extended to the quality of the national culture and the central role of the arts in a vital society.
He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations. But the hard reality of the Communist challenge remained. ...
The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world. "
Related Sites:Wikipedia
Legacy"Many of Kennedy's speeches (especially his inaugural address) are considered iconic; and despite his relatively short term in office and lack of major legislative changes during his term, Americans regularly vote him as one of the best presidents, in the same league as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. Some excerpts of Kennedy's inaugural address are engraved on a plaque at his grave at Arlington....
Assassination"President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on November 22, 1963, while on a political trip to Texas. He was shot twice in the neck and head, and was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested at a movie theater at about 1:50 p.m. He denied shooting anyone, claiming he was a patsy, and was killed by Jack Ruby on November 24, before he could be indicted or tried.
President Johnson created the Warren Commission—chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren—to investigate the assassination. It concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin, but this remains disputed by some scholars and eyewitnesses. Conspiracy theories about the assassination and supposed cover-up have been put forward and have become commonplace in popular culture."
-Great Speeches
Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You!

"
From The Final Call, Vol. 15, No.6, On January 17, 1996
On June 4, 1963, a little known attempt was made to strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the government at interest. On that day President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve. Mr. Kennedy's order gave the Treasury the power "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury." This meant that for every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury's vault, the government could introduce new money into circulation. In all, Kennedy brought nearly $4.3 billion in U.S. notes into circulation. The ramifications of this bill are enormous.
With the stroke of a pen, Mr. Kennedy was on his way to putting the Federal Reserve Bank of New York out of business. If enough of these silver certificats were to come into circulation they would have eliminated the demand for Federal Reserve notes. This is because the silver certificates are backed by silver and the Federal Reserve notes are not backed by anything. Executive Order 11110 could have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level, because it would have given the gevernment the ability to repay its debt without going to the Federal Reserve and being charged interest in order to create the new money. Executive Order 11110 gave the U.S. the ability to create its own money backed by silver. ...
After Mr. Kennedy was assassinated just five months later, no more silver certificates were issued. The Final Call has learned that the Executive Order was never repealed by any U.S. President through an Executive Order and is still valid. Why then has no president utilized it? Virtually all of the nearly $6 trillion in debt has been created since 1963, and if a U.S. president had utilized Executive Order 11110 the debt would be nowhere near the current level. Perhaps the assassination of JFK was a warning to future presidents who would think to eliminate the U.S. debt by eliminating the Federal Reserve's control over the creation of money. Mr. Kennedy challenged the government of money by challenging the two most successful vehicles that have ever been used to drive up debt ...
-OtherRobert F. KennedyBobbySirhan SirhanThe Kennedy Bloodline
, from theforbiddenknowledge.com"JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY
If John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated and so much about his life examined and written about, a window allowing us to see the Kennedy Illuminati family may never have opened so wide. First, the assassination attracted attention. In recent years, the Illuminati have given permission to publishing houses to print exposes of J.F.K.’s sexual life, etc.11 It is believed that this permission was given in an effort to deflect criticism of his assassination by allowing his reputation to be tarnished.12 (I hope my readers are beginning to realize that things are totally corrupt at the top, and that JFK was no different than so many others that have been and are today at the top of the political mess in this nation.) John F. Kennedy had a very active sex life, even after he married Jackie, and even after he was President in the White House. For those who don’t think secrets can be kept by the elite, one only has to look at how John F. Kennedy was able to have sex with many women while President and to have frequent nude swim parties at the White House pool and the general public not know anything about it.13 John F. Kennedy’s lust for women was well known by the elite. Illuminatus McGeorge Bundy warned his friend JFK (while JFK was a Senator) that John’s openness with women might get him into trouble with the public. John F. Kennedy was so open about his sexual habit, that at one party at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy openly had sex with one partner in front of the party, while his friend Senator Estes Kefauver did the same. Then they swapped partners and began again in plain view. John F. Kennedy had many "one-night-stands" as the world calls them. These were merely women hustled up by his aides or the secret service or his friends like Frank Sinatra. But Kennedy also had long term relationships with some of the women he was sexually active with. It is those relationships which reveal so much about the hidden Satanic side of the Kennedys. John F. Kennedy had three long term girlfriends, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield, and Zsa Zsa Gabor which were ALSO girlfriends of Anton LaVey, who has headed the Church of Satan. Jayne Mansfield was a high priestess of the Church of Satan. Marilyn Monroe was a participant in LaVey’s satanic rituals before LaVey founded his Church of Satan. Both JFK and his brother Robert Kennedy had affairs going with Marilyn Monroe, and both visited her just prior to her mysterious death. Zsa Zsa has been interested for years in the occult. (JFK also had relationships with other women connected with the Illuminati also.)..
*see GoodnewsEverybody.com- Deceiver-Ways Satan "lies" to everybody, Demons, Devils, Ghosts, Magic, Illusions, Witches, etc....
JFK Warns of The Secret Elites: Learn Who Murdered Him!

"
With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest President in the Nation's history. He brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he vigorously led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy...Who Was the Most Christian American President?
By Rick Marschall
Special to ASSIST News Service
Sunday, February 19, 2012 assistnews.net"SWARTZ CREEK MI (ANS) -- On President’s Day this is a topic that has relevance, perhaps more so when “social issues” inhabit headlines. Lest we judge, lest we be judged, we should acknowledge that it is an open question with no definitive answer, yet a fit topic for discussion. In the end, addressing who might have been the most observant president would hew closer to historical evidence and verifiable records.
I addressed the topic last President’s Day, and it proved to be the most popular -– or at least the recipient of the most reactions -– in the three years I have been writing devotional essays. Are people hungry for intellectual “parlor games”... or wanting to connect the dots between political leaders and Christian faith?
First: Presidents’ Day is a holiday one of whose aspects I abhor: its mush-brained attempt at “inclusiveness.” Beyond a thank-you for the time certain presidents served, and sacrifices they probably made -– already covered by various grade schools named for them, and the pensions they received -– simply doing one’s job should not be justification for a federal holiday.
To honor all is a way of honoring none. For historical saps like James Buchanan, sharing a national holiday with Abraham Lincoln is to knock the latter off a pedestal. Historical accidents like John Tyler and Millard Fillmore should not be mentioned in the same hemisphere as George Washington. Some few presidents did great things in great ways.
The impetus for President’s Day was provided by unions and retailers, who desired another long weekend on the standard calendar. The result? Our civic saints live in the popular image, now, as Abe Lincoln impersonators hawking used cars on TV commercials; and George Washington (his talking portrait on animated dollar bills), not the Father of His Country, but the Father of the President’s Day Weekend of Unbelievable Bargains and Sales.
Americans used to reject, but now embrace, the Marxian mindset of mediocrity -– every thing, and every one, must be leveled. In America today we pull down some of humankind’s greatest figures, like Washington and Lincoln, in order to -– what? not hurt the feelings of Franklin Pierce and Chester Alan Arthur? There’s a lesson for our school children: grow up to become president, have a pulse, and you, too, will have post offices close a day in your honor.
Obviously I am eager to honor Washington and Lincoln, whose birthdays, this month, officially have been homogenized, as have their reputations. I do honor them, frequently, in my writing, and in discussions, and conversations with children, and in my reading and my studies. So should we all do with people and causes that we revere, even more urgently when the culture obscures them from our vision.
In my case I hold Theodore Roosevelt in particular regard. Last October my biography of him, BULLY! (Regnery History, 440 pages, illustrated entirely by vintage political cartoons), was published, and I devoted a chapter to TR’s faith. (Indeed, I am working on a full book on the theme.) One thing I have come to appreciate about TR is something that largely has been neglected by history books. That is, the aspect of his fervent Christian faith. In some ways, he might be seen as the most Christian and the most religious of all presidents; and by “religious” I mean most observant.
This is (admittedly) a subjective list, and a difficult one to compute and compile. TR’s name at the top of the list might surprise some people, yet that surprise would itself bear witness to the nature of his faith: privately held, but permeating countless speeches, writings, and acts. (A step out of character for this man who otherwise exhibited most of multi-faceted personality to the world!) His favorite verse was Micah 6:8 -– “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
He was of the Dutch Reformed Church. He participated in missions work with his father, a noted philanthropist. He taught weekly Sunday School classes during his four years at Harvard. He wrote for Christian publications.
He called his bare-the-soul speech announcing his principles when running in 1912, “A Confession of Faith.” Later he closed perhaps the most important speech of his life, the clarion-call acceptance of the Progressive Party nomination that year, with the words, "We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord!” That convention featured evangelical hymns and closed with “Onward Christian Soldiers.”
He titled one his books Foes of Our Own Household (after Matthew 10:36) and another, Fear God and Take Your Own Part. He once wrote an article for The Ladies’ Home Journal, “Nine Reasons Why Men Should Go To Church.” After TR left the White House, he was offered university presidencies and many other prominent jobs. He chose instead to become Contributing Editor of The Outlook, a relatively small Christian weekly magazine.
He was invited to deliver the Earl Lectures at Pacific Theological Seminary in 1911, but declined due to a heavy schedule. Knowing he would be near Berkeley on a speaking tour, however, he offered to deliver the lectures if he might be permitted to speak extemporaneously, not having time to prepare written texts of the five lectures, as was the school’s customary requirement. It was agreed, and TR spoke for 90 minutes each evening -– from the heart and without notes -– on the Christian’s role in modern society.
... and so on. TR was not perfect, but he knew the One who is. Fond of saying that he would “speak softly and carry a big stick,” it truly can be said, also, that Theodore Roosevelt hid the Word in his heart, and acted boldly. He was a great American because he was thoroughgoing good man; and he was a good man because he was a humble believer.
Remember Theodore Roosevelt on President’s Day. Remember him on his own birthday, October 27. Remember him every day -– we are not seeing his kind any more. "
-20th President

"...His nature, always religious, was at this period profoundly stirred in that direction. He was converted under the instructions of a Campbellite preacher, was baptized and received into that denomination. They called themselves “The Disciples” condemned all doctrines and forms and sought to direct their lives by the Scriptures, simply interpreted, as any plain man would read them. This sanction to independent thinking given by religion itself had great influence in this young man that kept his earnest nature out of the ruts of bigotry....James A. Garfield
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"...Garfield was a minister and an elder for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), making him the first—and to date, only—member of the clergy to serve as President.[20] He is also claimed as a member of the Church of Christ, as the different branches did not split until the 20th century. Garfield preached his first sermon in Poestenkill, New York.."

"Late in the administration of Andrew Johnson, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant quarreled with the President and aligned himself with the Radical Republicans. He was, as the symbol of Union victory during the Civil War, their logical candidate for President in 1868...Ulysses S. Grant Interpretive Outline, from faculty.css.edu"... 10. Grant's "Quaker" Indian Peace Policy:
Grant signed the Indian Appropriation Act, which established Indians as national wards and nullified Indian Treaties, March 3, 1871.
A major part of Grant's Peace Policy, this act caused the government to recognize for the first time the need to insure the welfare of Indians as individuals rather than as tribal entities.
This was the first step in years of federal initiatives toward Indian policy reform that ultimately led to the Indians' citizenship.
Under Grant's program, educational and medical programs were institutionalized in the Interior Department, and tons of food, clothing, and books were donated by churches and relief organizations to tribes.
Between 1868 and 1876 the number of houses on reservations climbed from 7,500 to 56,000. The amount of land under cultivation increased sixfold. Teachers and schools tripled. Indian ownership of livestock increased by over fifteen times...
*see GoodnewsEverybody.com Native Indian Americans
-16th President of the United States: 1861-1865

The Federal Reserve
Another myth that all Americans live with is the charade known as the "Federal Reserve." It comes as a shock to many to discover that it is not an agency of the United States Government.
The name "Federal Reserve Bank" was designed to deceive, and it still does. It is not federal, nor is it owned by the government. It is privately owned.7 It pays its own postage like any other corporation. Its employees are not in civil service. Its physical property is held under private deeds, and is subject to local taxation. Government property, as you know, is not.
It is an engine that has created private wealth that is unimaginable, even to the most financially sophisticated. It has enabled an imperial elite to manipulate our economy for its own agenda and enlisted the government itself as its enforcer. It controls the times, dictates business, affects our homes and practically everything in which we are interested.
It takes powerful force to maintain an empire, and this one is no different. The concerns of the leadership of the "Federal Reserve" and its secretive international benefactors appear to go well beyond currency and interest rates...

Abraham Lincoln
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Religious and philosophical beliefs"Even as a child, Lincoln largely rejected organized religion, but the Calvinistic "doctrine of necessity" would remain a factor throughout his life. In 1846 Lincoln described the effect of this doctrine as "that the human mind is impelled to action, or held in rest by some power, over which the mind itself has no control."[200] In April 1864, in justifying his actions regarding Emancipation, Lincoln wrote, "I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years struggle the nation's condition is not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. God alone can claim it."..New book sheds new light on Lincoln's racial views, By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Matthew Barakat, Associated Press – Fri Mar 4, 4:04 pm ET from news.yahoo.com"McLEAN, Va. – Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has inspired Americans for generations, but consider his jarring remarks in 1862 to a White House audience of free blacks, urging them to leave the U.S. and settle in Central America.
"For the sake of your race, you should sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people," Lincoln said, promoting his idea of colonization: resettling blacks in foreign countries on the belief that whites and blacks could not coexist in the same nation.
Lincoln went on to say that free blacks who envisioned a permanent life in the United States were being "selfish" and he promoted Central America as an ideal location "especially because of the similarity of climate with your native land — thus being suited to your physical condition."
As the nation celebrates the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's first inauguration Friday, a new book by a researcher at George Mason University in Fairfax makes the case that Lincoln was even more committed to colonizing blacks than previously known. The book, "Colonization After Emancipation," is based in part on newly uncovered documents that authors Philip Magness and Sebastian Page found at the British National Archives outside London and in the U.S. National Archives.
In an interview, Magness said he thinks the documents he uncovered reveal Lincoln's complexity.
"It makes his life more interesting, his racial legacy more controversial," said Magness, who is also an adjuct professor at American University.
Lincoln's views about colonization are well known among historians, even if they don't make it into most schoolbooks. Lincoln even referred to colonization in the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, his September 1862 warning to the South that he would free all slaves in Southern territory if the rebellion continued. Unlike some others, Lincoln always promoted a voluntary colonization, rather than forcing blacks to leave.
But historians differ on whether Lincoln moved away from colonization after he issued the official Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, or whether he continued to support it.
Magness and Page's book offers evidence that Lincoln continued to support colonization, engaging in secret diplomacy with the British to establish a colony in British Honduras, now Belize.
Among the records found at the British archives is an 1863 order from Lincoln granting a British agent permission to recruit volunteers for a Belize colony.
"He didn't let colonization die off. He became very active in promoting it in the private sphere, through diplomatic channels," Magness said. He surmises that Lincoln grew weary of the controversy that surrounded colonization efforts, which had become enmeshed in scandal and were criticized by many abolitionists.
As late as 1864, Magness found a notation that Lincoln asked the attorney general whether he could continue to receive counsel from James Mitchell, his colonization commissioner, even after Congress had eliminated funding for Mitchell's office.
Illinois' state historian, Tom Schwartz, who is also a research director at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill., said that while historians differ, there is ample evidence that Lincoln's views evolved away from colonization in the final two years of the Civil War.
Lincoln gave several speeches referring to the rights blacks had earned as they enlisted in the Union Army, for instance. And presidential secretary John Hay wrote in July 1864 that Lincoln had "sloughed off" colonization.
"Most of the evidence points to the idea that Lincoln is looking at other ways" to resolve the transition from slavery besides colonization at the end of his presidency, Schwartz said.
Lincoln is the not the only president whose views on race relations and slavery were more complex and less idealistic than children's storybook histories suggest. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were both slaveholders despite misgivings. Washington freed his slaves when he died.
"Washington, because he wanted to keep the union, knew he had to ignore the slavery problem because it would have torn the country apart, said James Rees, director of Washington's Mount Vernon estate.
"It's tempting to wish he had tried. The nation had more chance of dealing with slavery with Washington than with anyone else," Rees said, noting the esteem in which Washington was held in both the North and the South.
Magness said views on Lincoln can be strongly held and often divergent. He noted that people have sought to use Lincoln's legacy to support all manner of political policy agendas since the day he was assassinated. And nobody can claim definitive knowledge of Lincoln's own views, especially on a topic as complex as race relations.
"He never had a chance to complete his vision. Lincoln's racial views were evolving at the time of his death," Magness said. "
Abraham Lincoln hated slavery but defended it

If you have never questioned your government, you might want to think about it now as all but 1 US president are connected to the same bloodline"Using both male and female ancestry a 12 year old girl has linked every US president but one to the former King of England as they are all of the same bloodline and one common ancestor. It’s the first family tree of it’s kind according to the report, linking the presidents to the signer of the Magna Carta, John “Lackland” Plantagenet the King of England in the year 1166. This demonstrates how illegitimate our government really is."

"American history as it always was--taught as it's never been. Explore the lives of individuals who founded America in a fun and excited journey with host Dave Stotts. The values-based course explores the lives of individuals who founded our nation in faith, through a commitment to God and Country.rnrnWho were the Founders, really? The legacy of our Founders has inspired courage, promoted innovation, and has been the bulwark of this, the greatest nation in history. Yet, revisionism continues to push that undeniable legacy into the shadows. Drive Thru History: "

"VANCOUVER, WA (ANS) -- On a number of occasions President Obama has lamented about growing up without a great dad in his life. Conversely, many U.S. presidents over the years have given a great deal of honor to their fathers. How important were these men in their sons’ lives? And what’s the connection between President’s Day every third Monday of February and Father’s Day every third Sunday of June?
In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge publicly supported plans for a national Father’s Day. Coolidge said of his father after his death: “He was a man of untiring industry and great tenacity of purpose… He always stuck to the truth. I cannot recall that I ever knew of his doing a wrong thing. He would be classed as decidedly a man of character.”
Coolidge wrote most about his father in his autobiography. He was in awe of his dad. His dad was generous, charitable, and regarded waste as a moral wrong. He wanted “to grow up to be like him."
In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed Father’s Day to be an official national holiday. His father was known as “A man who loved his fellow man.” Lyndon, in his childhood, wanted nothing more than to be like his dad, to try to replicate him in every way. It is said that at his core, Lyndon never ceased loving his dad. He admired what he stood for.
It wasn’t until 1972, though, that President Richard Nixon signed into law a permanent U.S. Father’s Day to be observed on the third Sunday of June. One biographer called Nixon’s dad "the most influential teacher in Richard’s life.” His dad was “the driving force” in their family. Nixon wrote, “There was never a day I was not proud of him (my dad).”
Today, do Americans believe a strong dad in the home is necessary? We can take small doses of elderly dads portrayed on TV—say, Martin Crane of Frasier and Arthur Spooner of The King of Queens. Most likely, none of these dads are like the dad we grew up with. They seem funny and easy to put up with in their son or daughter’s home. In each case, the dad isn’t caring for his child. His adult child is caring for him.
Other popular TV dads over the past quarter century have mixed humor with ineptness, most notably Everybody Loves Raymond, Home Improvement, and The Cosby Show. It seems easier to laugh at a man who’s trying hard to be a dad than to actually have a father in the home.
In the heart of each child is a longing for his or her dad to be someone special. Sadly, that longing is often unfulfilled. Still, given the choice between an absent dad and a dad in the home that can be overbearing, unreasonable, and even controlling, many children would choose the latter.
Today many kids grow up without a dad. They don’t know him well enough to admire him. In some instances, they have never met their biological dad.
This President’s Day, let’s not forget to honor the fathers of the next generation of great leaders.
Note: In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Father’s Day, the White House sent a special letter of commendation to D. J. Young, full-time researcher, writer, and speaker on issues pertaining to fatherhood, www.Wisdom4Dads.com.
"

"The song you are about to listen to is from a Las Vegas Diamond Rio concert. They received an immediate resounding standing ovation, and continue to do so every time they perform it! Everyone who loves America should be thrilled to hear this song! Although Diamond Rio has never before done a statement song, they felt compelled to record "In God We Still Trust." But guess what? Sadly, major radio stations wouldn't play it because it was considered "politically incorrect". Consequently, the song was never released to the public. So America, see what you think. If this offering speaks to your heart and you feel to share it with friends and loved ones, please"

"I have compiled these images to Iced Earth's song Declaration Day. Thier album The Glorious Burden is filled with many awesome songs about American history. Some real kick butt power metal. I've had this idea for a while now and I've been feeling quite patriotic lately so I had to put this together as a tribute to our nation's violent birth. Many of the figures you see here are George Washington, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Molly Pitcher and Benjamin Franklin. Those are some of the ones I remember off the top of my head. "